Barometer

A compendium of what’s hot and what’s not in Louisiana

Carolyn Kolb

photo courtesy of Paul Kieu, The Advertiser

“I Do” at the Zoo

Gabriel, 7, and Evangeline, 9, were too tall for a hall, so the wedding of the two giraffes at Zoo of Acadiana in Broussard was an outdoor event, complete with attendants and guests wearing animal prints, giraffe ears and complete giraffe costumes. Gabriel celebrated by eating the attendants’ bouquets of alfalfa, bamboo shoots and heart-shaped apple slices. A $65,000 fundraising campaign brought his bride, Evangeline, to the zoo from Kansas last October. The Louisiana Kids and Acadiana Symphony Orchestra provided music for the ceremony and reception, reported the Lafayette Advertiser.

“Big Easy” Makes

Hall of Champions Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond will add three new names to their sports Hall of Champions: Nate “Big Easy” Lofton, who played men’s basketball at Southeastern from 2003-’05 and is currently a member of the Harlem Globetrotters; track and field All-American Chris Carter and football All-American Felton Huggins. The three will be formally installed at a football game in October and will bring the number of inductees to 131, according to the Amite-Tangi Digest.

Happy Birthday, Baker!

City of Baker representatives buried a time capsule about life in 2013 as part of the community’s 125th birthday celebration, said the Zachary Plainsman News. Representatives from the Baker Heritage Museum, City Hall and the Baker Chamber of Commerce hosted the free celebration with children’s activities, pony rides, a classic car show, art displays and dancing to live music by local singers.

Flying High

The Lake Area Radio Kontrol Society (LARKS) hosted its 34th annual May Day Helicopter Fly for remote-controlled helicopters at Hinch Field in Carlyss, reported the Sulphur Daily News. From attendance of about a dozen in 1979, the event has grown, with participants ranging from amateurs to experts. “It’s international. We’ve had people from Bulgaria, Mexico, Canada, Japan. This year there’s someone from Phoenix,” said Bo Hinch, founder of the event.

“The Play’s The Thing!”

Teenage actress Hannah McNew from Choudrant, of Cedar Creek School in Ruston, placed as a semi-finalist at the 30th season of the English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition and performed onstage at Lincoln Center Theater in New York City.
The Monroe News Star reported that her performance included a sonnet and monologue from Shakespeare’s works.

Seeing Stars in St. Bernard

The St. Bernard Voice reported that the $15 million FEMA-funded Maumus Center in Old Arabi, scheduled for completion in late 2014, will be a state-of-the-art hands-on science learning center for the St. Bernard Parish school system. Schools will utilize the Maumus center in conjunction with the parish’s science curriculum, focusing on the region’s ecology and environmental issues, with the focal point being the new planetarium, housed in a newly constructed 4,000-square-foot building addition.

Monument Needed

The Pointe Coupee Banner reported that no suitable monument currently marks the resting place of a remarkable Pointe Coupee Parish resident, but fundraising efforts by the Pointe Coupee Historical Society are planned as a remedy. Petrus LaForest Albert Plantevigne, commonly known as L.A. Planving, was born in Pointe Coupee in 1869, earned a degree at Straight University in New Orleans (a predecessor of Dillard University) and returned home to start a school for black students. History buff Stafford Chenevert found Planving’s simple gravesite near the Zion Travelers Baptist Church in Oscar. The fundraising goal for the monument is $5,000, with hopes for additional funding for an endowed scholarship in Planving’s honor.

QUOTABLE

“Wonderful Southern must-haves never fail to salute the seasons. Can a deep South garden be complete without magnolias, azaleas, wisterias and crepe myrtles [?]... I think not!”
“Lagniappe and Leftovers,” Brenda Ardillo Bellavia, Tangilena.com